


The passage of time

by Amara22



Category: Shadowhunters (TV), The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Powers, F/M, Fake/Pretend Relationship, Implied/Referenced Cheating, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-04
Updated: 2018-06-04
Packaged: 2019-05-18 03:57:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,537
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14845256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Amara22/pseuds/Amara22
Summary: Magnus and Alec's relationship starts in high school. They both age mature grow up choose their paths in life and eventually they find their way back to each other.





	The passage of time

AN: My end game is Malec even though it looks like they break up but there is also a fake/pretend relationship between Alec and Lydia. Sizzy and Clace are here as well just more background.  
Chapter one  
Alec Lightwood came out when he was 15 years old to his parents and siblings. His siblings were extremely supportive while his father just told him that he was going through a ‘phase’ and that he would outgrow it. His siblings just ignored their fathers comments whilst their mother on the other hand just told him she was happy with whatever made him happy not commenting on the fact that he had come out because he was caught making out with Magnus Bane.  
Magnus was extremely popular and outgoing. He was part of the popular group in school which his adopted brother Jace and sister Izzy were part of. Alec was a more blend in with the shadows type of guy but that didn’t stop Magnus from pulling Alec out of the closet kicking and screaming. Alec was the complete opposite of Magnus, he liked rules, orders and had a sense of duty so strong he would probably commit murder for his family but that did not mean that their relationship wouldn’t work in fact it was probably their differences that kept them strong.  
Alec and Magnus both did things to the extreme, they both felt deeply and coped in different ways but at their cores their values were the same. Their extremes brought balance to each other with Magnus and his outgoing nature bringing Alec outside his comfort zone and allowing him to let go and have fun while Alec’s strength and dependability kept Magnus grounded however just because they were perfect for each other didn’t mean that their relationship was perfect. They had their fights, petty squabbles and their misunderstandings but they had both fell in love so soon neither of them realized how much pain came from loving someone. They had both been young and naïve. They both believed that true love would conquer all, they were both ignorant of how hard one would have to fight for love and the worst part was they were both unaware of how much love could hurt.

Alec had always been the type of person who had a plan, and he had tried so hard to keep himself in the closet so that he wouldn’t disappoint his parents but then he met Magnus and suddenly he knew what it was like to follow his heart however there was something that he wanted just as much as he wanted Magnus. Alec wanted to enlist into the army. It had always appealed to him since the time he was a child, their routines, the strength they represented but most of all it was stability. Alec always thought about it but never very seriously because his father would never allow it but since Magnus had helped him come to terms with himself, Alec wanted to chase his dreams as well even though he was only 16.

Magnus had always been supportive of Alec even if the thought of him enlisting terrified him. Alec tried very hard to support his dreams of becoming a fashion designer in New York something which was not easy to do in this day and age but Alec believed in him even if he didn’t know what Magnus was talking about most of the time so when Alec finally decided to tell him that he was enlisting he supported him and prayed for him to anyone listening.

They were only teenagers, they had no idea how hard it would be but it didn’t matter because by the time Magnus officially started College he was still dating Alec who had not been deployed yet as he had been a minor. Their relationship had strained a bit at the beginning but once Alec had finished training he was put on the reserve list as he was so young. This gave him more time to be home with his family and boyfriend.

Alec had gotten his GED and was going to get a teaching degree so that he would have something else to fall back on later in life. It was also around this time that Magnus had started to become a little famous for his work. A fashion designer named Catarina had seen some of his work and saw a lot of potential in him and hired him part time with a few of his pieces being sold under his name. It was a big step for him, a great start at the age of 19 but it was also the time when one thing came together something else started falling apart. Alec had been deployed for the first time for three months. There was less communication and when Alec had returned a part of him had changed, Alec carried himself differently, less of the awkward boy who blushed when he kissed him and more of a confident man.

Magnus on the other hand had always been a little bit of a party animal but as he got more and more drawn in the all the glitz and glam of fashion, he too had changed without even knowing it. An up and coming model by the name of Camille Belcourt had set her sights on him and it would only be a matter of time before he left that silly little solider boy but for now she played the part of a good friend who listened when he felt lonely. Their relationship was strained but they were both stubborn they refused to let it break them instead they tried to stop the train wreck that was coming by trying to reconnect. It worked for a few months, they made more time for each other and reconnected, then Alec was deployed again. This time for 6 months.

Magnus had been put in charge of a huge project and if it went well then he would have one foot in the door on his way to his dreams and Alec hadn’t been there. When he had returned things were very different. Magnus was almost constantly busy, there were several people who now had a key to what used to be their apartment and when Alec was woken up from a nap at 2 am by a stranger he had her in a head lock before Magnus could stop him. Alec apologized and said he wouldn’t sleep in the lounge anymore and retreated to the guest bedroom where he could be sure no one would be there. 

They tried reconnecting like they had done the first time but Camille constantly ruined it. She kept showing up, distracting Magnus with work, laughing over inside jokes but most of all she kept touching him and Alec was starting to worry that their relationship wouldn’t be able to survive all this distance and time apart. It also didn’t help his insecurities to see that Magnus seemed to do just fine without him and that he considered Camille his friend and Alec just couldn’t like her. 

When Alec was deployed again, he was gone for 14 months this time. He was only supposed to go for 5 when things went South and continued to go South until he was pretty sure they ended up in hell and were roasting marshmallow’s with Lucifer because when Alec finally managed to go home it was not even in the right circumstances and everything thing that happened after was completely his fault, he knew that accepted it, hell he even felt guilty as fuck but he did it because it was the right thing to do at the time, or maybe he had done it because Camille was at his side but the reason didn’t matter because Alec had made a choice and he would be forced to deal with the consequences of that choice which would only bring pain to him, his family, his friends and most of all the man he loved, Magnus but it would keep them safe so he would play the part of the villain.

*14 months ago*

Alec had been deployed with Simon Lewis and Lydia Branwell. Simon was an orphan who had no where else to go but to the military but he was a good man and a good solider. He worked well with them as a communications expert and was a bit of a tech genius. Lydia was his best friend and Simon would often joke that she was a blonde, female version of Alec. Lydia was their leader and Alec was their sniper. They were an extremely young and talented unit and they were a lot like family. They both knew that Alec was gay but while the army had a ‘Don’t ask don’t tell’ policy there were a few mutterings of how maybe Lydia and Alec were a couple as they were very close. Lydia didn’t even have a problem changing in front of Alec but that was just because she knew he would never be interested and she was in love with John her long time boyfriend and neither of them did anything to stop the rumors.

Their current mission was to recover their lost man who was being held in Afghanistan and recover the information he was transporting, what they didn’t know was the absolute shit storm they had walked in on. Valentine was ex-military who had managed to create a terrorist group amongst the people he served with who dealt with information trading, drugs and anything else illegal, however the thing that made him so dangerous was the information he had and how he was willing to use it. Valentine financed several other terrorists groups and was more than happy to cause a blood bath, the information he sold always ensured that people would die by the thousands.

His group was known as the circle and it only had a few key members, without their leader and his son the whole operation would crumble however no one was ever able to find the bloody bastard so when they tried to complete their mission they realized that they were grossly misinformed as Alec ended up shooting Valentine in the head to save Simon and Lydia while Raphael the man they were supposed to save ended up dead and the flash drive they were meant to recover went missing. 

Then the shit storm started, as it turned out no one knew Valentine had a bloody heir to his bloody throne known as Sebastian Verlac who was not happy that daddy had been killed. In his twisted form of revenge Sebastian tracked down Lydia’s fiancé John. He had been tortured and killed and it tore Lydia apart. Her guilt nearly ate her alive but Alec and Simon helped her through it. Instead of being put into witness protection the three of them decided to be deployed and constantly on the move, it was also a way to try and see if they could root out any moles and they ended up running round and round for 6 months.

When everything went to shit Alec stopped contacting home. He didn’t want anyone finding out about Magnus the way Sebastian found out about John. They were also trying to locate the lost flash drive as no one was sure what Raphael uncovered as he was caught before being able to report his findings. They had basically been promoted to Shadowhunters as they were chasing the shadows of the circle across the bloody world. It was a nickname used to mock them at first as no one from the upper levels thought such young and new recruits would be able to actually do something about the circle but the unit proved them wrong. They found several moles, recovered information and had the identities of previously unknown inner circle members which was why after 5 months of no contact with his boyfriend Alec found himself in New York chasing Sebastian Verlac himself. 

They had actually been doing some recon on the building which they believed was used for making deals between Verlac’s people and others. They interrupted a meeting completely by accident but it also meant that they were unprepared for that level of fire power. Lydia took a bullet to the arm while Simon got thrown out the window into the water and Sebastian got away. They weren’t supposed to end up in New York so Alec grit his teeth and carried an unconscious Lydia to his apartment. They didn’t want to be flagged in the area as Sebastian would be able to track them. Simon was soggy but unhurt so he offered to sleep in the van (the only thing they had). He would also try to track Sebastian while Alec the medic of the group would see to Lydia even though they were once again grossly unprepared for this situation. 

Alec hoped and prayed that Magnus would not be home and would be in the middle of some huge project and the apartment would be empty long enough for them to use the first aid kit and get out. He picked the lock (he didn’t have his key) and placed Lydia on the kitchen counter. Her pupils were dilated and he was pretty sure that Verlac laced his bullets with some sort of drug which meant that Lydia was probably high so he tried to keep her focused.

“My ribs hurt Al.” she slurred.

Alec closed his eyes and prayed for patience. He hoped that she was concussed and not drugged and then there was the concern for her ribs so he lost all patience and pulled the black long sleeve sweater off her completely. They were dressed in civvies as it had been a stealth mission and there was dried blood on her arm and her chest was turning blue.

Alec unbuckled his belt and shoved it in her mouth saying, “Bite down because I need to dig the bullet out and I can’t have you scream and wake the neighbors.”

Once Alec finished with her arm, she threw his belt somewhere and wrapped herself around him like a clingy octopus.

“Lyds, your ribs. I need to wrap your ribs.”

Lydia wrapped her legs around his middle and stated, “I wanna lie down and cuddle. Its been a bad day.”

Alec rolled his eyes, after coming out as gay Lydia enjoyed using him as a human teddy bear, even Simon joined in on their doggy piles sometimes, when things got bad and their thoughts got dark but she wasn’t usually this loopy or half naked. Alec just carried her towards his bedroom which he shared with Magnus, hoping she would just sit still so he could finish wrapping her ribs. Lydia decided that the bra hurt too much and it was thrown near the bedroom door. Alec wrapped her ribs noting that she would need to x ray them as he was sure they had probably cracked but didn’t break.

It was after 2am and Magnus hadn’t come home yet so Alec passed out next to Lydia completely forgetting that he couldn’t be there when Magnus did come back no matter how much he wanted to just hide himself away from the nightmare this had become, actually Alec just wanted to be held in his boyfriends arms where he knew he would be safe and he could finally just rest.

Magnus had recently begun working with Isabelle Lightwood an up and coming model who also happened to be his boyfriends sister and a really good friend of his. Izzy had also told Magnus that Alec hadn’t contacted them in a while and she was getting really worried about him. The two had commiserated and now and then when they would check for a letter or email only to see nothing and share a sad and worried look but they said nothing. Magnus kept himself busy with his work which was going amazingly until a few of the outfits didn’t fit the models right. There was an emergency session where Magnus, Catarina, Izzy and Camille worked on the outfits ensuring it would be perfect for the unveiling in the next two days. Then they all headed to Magnus’s apartment because it was the closest to crash for 12 hours.

Izzy didn’t really like Camille but so long as she kept a civil tongue and Magnus didn’t encourage her flirting Izzy ignored her so when they tumbled into the apartment at 6 am she expected to pass out on the sofa, while Camille got the guest room and Catarina the lounger when she crashed into Magnus who stood frozen in the center of the room and suddenly she was wide awake.

Camille tried to walk pass Magnus to get to the guest room when he caught her hand and held onto it in a vice like grip. Catarina picked up the black female sweater lying on the floor next to the kitchen counter while Magnus was staring at the lacy red and black bra lying on the ground near the entrance of his bedroom and the door was closed. He remembered leaving it open when he rushed out and then they heard voices.

“Lydia your hands are freezing and we need to go. I don’t know when Magnus will get here but I want to be gone before that happens.”

Magnus went as a white as a sheet and Catarina was torn between wrapping him in her arms and punching the famous or rather the infamous Alec in the face.

“What happened to my bra Al and my sweater? We cant just leave my clothes here.” came a female voice full of laughter. 

Izzy was just confused. Alec was gay so this couldn’t be what it seemed like, she knew her brother and he was a good noble honest person. He would never cheat. This couldn’t be happening. 

“I ripped the sweater off you in the kitchen, your bra was just outside the door, I was gonna pick it up but my phone rang.”

They heard the woman’s laughter and the bedroom door opened and even Izzy had to admit she looked beautiful, wearing black skinny jeans, boots, and what could only be Alec’s shirt since it hung off her one shoulder. She was blonde with pretty blue eye and pink lips. Then she looked up and the smile fell off her face.

“Fuck. Al we have company.”

“I got my stuff lets move.”

Alec looked at Magnus who was clutching Camille’s hand, his baby sister looking lost and Catarina looking murderous clutching Lydia’s sweater and he counted to 10 in his head hoping this was just another bad dream. Alec took a nap and woke up 20 minutes ago, he put the first aid kit away, got rid of any traces of blood and packed some extra clothes into his duffle bag. He checked on Lydia and she was fine. The only side effect of the drug was that she seemed cold, like freezing but she would warm up soon, they both got a call from Simon and they had a lead on Sebastian. Five more minutes and they would have been home free now it probably looked like Alec was cheating on Magnus and as much as his head and heart screamed it was a bad idea he took Lydia’s hand, meeting Magnus’s eyes with a determined face.

“You weren’t meant to find out like this. I’m sorry.” He said. It came out flat, monotone, emotionless and he watched as Magnus shut down in front of him.

Lydia took a sharp breath and squeezed his hand three times code for ‘Are you sure?’, he squeezed back twice, ‘Yes’. She did it again making absolutely sure that Alec really wanted to do this and once again Alec answered yes.

Lydia strode forward and tugged her sweater out of Catarinas hand without a word. She slipped the clothes into Alec’s duffle and took is hand while slipping out her phone and sending a ‘call me’ to Simon to help get them out before the tears and fighting. They didn’t have time for it even though she was pretty sure that her best friend just broke his own heart.

Izzy was the one to speak, looking helplessly at Lydia, “Don’t lie Alec. You’re gay right?”

Alec just shrugged, “Dad was right, it was just a phase.”

Magnus had silent tears running down his face. He still hadn’t said anything. He opened his mouth to say something but the ringing of Alec’s phone stopped him.

Alec pressed answer and listened.

“Alec, I have eyes on him. I activated my tracker. I need back up.” 

Lydia watched as Alec closed his eyes and started cursing before he replied, “Si ETA 5 minutes. Do not let him see you and do not approach him alone.”

He hung up the phone and looked at Magnus, “Send the rest of my stuff to Jace. Lydia we need to go now.”

Before anyone could say anything Alec was out the door hand in hand with Lydia. Catarina watched as Magnus fell apart right in front of their eyes.

They lost Sebastian and that night after the debriefing Lydia asked, “Do you even realize what you’ve done?”

Alec closed his eyes and nodded silently.

“Really? Are you sure because to me it looks like you just threw away the man that loves you. This misunderstanding was horrible and cliché like something out of some teen romance tv series but you didn’t have to lose him Alec.”

“Yes I did. I know him and Magnus is stubborn. If I had even hinted that there was more to what I was doing than the usual he would have wanted to know and I can’t keep up a lie for long. I would have created a web that would spiral and he could get hurt. This work is dangerous Lyds. Information is dangerous deadly thing. He is also a civilian. He is also my weakness. If I cheated then he would hate me and push me away.”

Lydia just looked sadly at him, “Sebastian won’t get away forever. This danger won’t exist soon and then what Alec? You go home and he’s moved on while you’re left with nothing?”

Alec just tugged at his hair in frustration, “He would be alive. I know the pain you went through when John died and I’m not that strong Lydia. I would rather have him hate me for the rest of his life than love him and selfishly get him killed.”

Lydia just shook her head, “You shouldn’t have made that choice for him Alec. It isn’t fair to him. Its better to have and lost than to have never loved at all. I treasure every memory with my beloved and I will never stop feeling guilty but Alec you’re going to regret this. I know where you’re coming from and I understand but this is only going to bring pain but I will support you, even if I don’t approve. You’re my friend Alec, my family I’ll stand by you.”

Simon just watched Alec with sad eyes before he said, “What are you going to do when this is over? Go home and pretend that you didn’t just lie about your sexuality again? Are you gonna go back in the closet because you did kind of tell everyone that you being gay was just a ‘phase’.”

Alec just face palmed while Lydia raised an eyebrow silently agreeing with Simon’s questions, “I am not going back into the closet. I worked to damn hard to get comfortable being out of it so force myself back inside it.”

When Alec looked at their faces which were basically screaming ‘this is exactly what we mean’ Alec just groaned, “When this is all over I’ll tell them the truth even if he hates me for lying and taking away his choice from him he can but that doesn’t mean I am gonna change my mind about not being with him. It was all just getting to complicated and how long was I supposed to expect him to wait for me? For now, let him believe whatever he wants to believe.”

Simon and Lydia shared a look and Lydia raised an eyebrow at him and Simon sighed, “Lying to protect your family. Alec is too stubborn not to change his mind.”

Lydia nodded her head and looked at the sleeping form of Alec sadly, “This is going to bring drama and lies and weird situations that we wont know how to handle but most of all its going to bring pain.”

Simon agreed with her but they said nothing more on the topic choosing to respect Alec’s decision.

Magnus took the break up badly and that was an understatement. He partied hard and took lovers nearly everyday. His reputation went from being in a committed relationship to being a playboy. His friendship with Izzy suffered and then he started dating Camille and she consumed him. She took over his entire life and Magnus was desperate to keep her until a year later she too cheated and left him broken. Izzy, Catarina and Ragnor (a photographer and Cat’s boyfriend) refused to allow him to self-destruct. They helped get him sobered up and back on track, repairing his friendship had been hard but they basically just avoided the whole topic of Alec completely with neither of them mentioning that they hadn’t heard from Alec since that awful day. Magnus slowly put his life back together without Alec or Camille or anyone else. He guarded his heart closely now.

Alec and his team had done extremely well in the year that they went off the grid, rooting out nearly all The Circle members until only Verlac himself remained. The man how was smart and well trained and they had been chasing him alone for nearly 4 months. A cornered man was a desperate one. Verlac was determined for all three of them to suffer for destroying his fathers work. Things went south when Verlac discovered that Alec had a sister and was targeting her. Alec sent Simon to keep an eye on her while he and Lydia chased him down. 

Simon worked as a barista at Izzy’s favourite coffee place and he made himself into a struggling musician. He managed to befriend Izzy through her brother Jace’s girlfriend Clary. It was a stroke of luck that Clary and him had been childhood friends before his mom and sister was killed in car accident and he was taken into foster care at the age of 14. Simon became a regular in their group and it wasn’t long before he started crushing on Izzy but he refused to make a move. Isabelle would never forgive him when she found out he was on assignment and he refused to deceive her like that or take advantage. They all thought he was insane because Izzy wanted to be with him but he refused her by joking it off and even going so far as to claiming he had a girlfriend named Maia. He had dated the Navy officer but they broke it off a long time ago but by claiming they were still together he managed to keep the questions away. Simon also befriended Magnus and it just made him sad to see what he had become because of Alec but only he knew how much Alec was hurting as well.

You would think that by now Simon would be used to the shit storm that followed them since the whole Valentine thing started but he wasn’t. They were all heading back to Simons apartment which used to be a studio. It was a large place with big windows , movie night was at his place tonight when he opened the door to see Alec kneeling on the ground, blocking the view of the person on the sofa but they all could see blonde hair and she was moaning.

Magnus was the first person to speak, “You have got to be fucking kidding me.”

Magnus was about to storm away from his ex boyfriend, not wanting to see him with her again, he saw it enough in his nightmares when Alec looked up, straight at Simon.

“Heat the metal spoon on the stove. She’s losing too much blood for stitches.”

His words silenced the thoughts of everyone in the room including Catarina and Ragnor who looked like they wanted to beat Alec with a baseball bat.

Simon didn’t even ask questions just doing as he was told while Alec ignored his sister, brother and Clary in favor of unbuckling his belt with blood stained fingers.

“Lyds stay awake. You need to stop leaving bite marks on my belts.”

He shoved the leather into her mouth and Simon brought him the red hot metal. Alec ripped off what was left of her shirt and placed the metal against her bare skin just under her left breast. There was the smell of burning flesh and Clary went white as Lydia’s scream was muffled by the leather.

Alec pulled off his own shirt and inserted a needle with a tube into his arm and then put the other needle into hers. 

“She lost too much blood. I’m gonna give her a transfusion I need you to disinfect a knife for me. I got a bullet lodged in my left arm and I need you to dig it out.”

Simon nodded and continued to move, “What happened to Verlac?”

Alec removed the needle and sat down on the floor, “He got away but I managed to get a bullet into him. He’s gonna go somewhere for treatment. Is my family safe?”

Simon had already dug out the bullet and stitched him up and replied, “No threats in the area. Verlac was circling but he never made it anywhere close. I put a bullet in someone named Kyle. He owed Verlac and tried to get near Miss Lightwood that was months ago, I already did my report on it.”

Isabelle just watched horrified, “Whats going on?”

Alec looked at his sister with a frown, “Lydia and I need to head out soon. We have a meet up with an informant. Shes out for at least 24 hours so Si gear up.”

Simon ignored Izzy and turned to his bedroom, pulling out a duffle bag and tossing guns and ammo to Alec. He gave him another shirt and a jacket, then left to change. Jace moved to try and talk to Alec but Lydia woke up and Alec moved to her side.

He filled a bowl with warm water and started cleaning all the blood off her, carefully avoiding the burn.

“What happened?” she muttered sleepily.

“Nothing I cant handle. Sleep Lyds, when you wake up I’ll be here and we can talk but you need to rest.”

He carried her into the bedroom and Simon walked out decked in black jeans and a leather jacket draped over his arm. He calmly tucked the gun into his waistband and covered it. 

“Lets move. We cannot be late. None of you leave. We’ll be back soon and then we can talk.” 

Magnus was left staring at the closed the door that his ex-boyfriend had just walked through and then he turned and found himself looking at the woman named Lydia who was unconscious in Simon’s bed. Magnus looked helplessly at Isabelle and Jace hoping that his siblings would have some sort of idea of what was happening but they looked just as lost as he was. Clary not knowing what else to do moved into the kitchen and made tea, it was at least calming.

They waited the whole night and they didn’t come back. They all fell asleep at some point and woke up to see sunlight streaming through the windows and Lydia was making coffee. She had a laptop open and was typing away furiously while she spoke to someone else via some sort of headphones. She was also speaking Arabic. Izzy woke up and stared at her for one minute before immediately shouting and threatening her telling her to explain what the fuck was going on and what she had done to her brother and why she had ruined his relationship. 

Lydia stared at her saying nothing through all the insults for a full five minutes before Izzy ran out of steam and replied, “Are you done throwing a fucking tantrum like a small child? I am not your big brother Miss Lightwood and I will not indulge you or your dramatics. I also don’t remember having to answer to you.”

Lydia’s reply was ice cold, her voice dripping with contempt and she looked at Izzy as if she were an unruly child and not a grown woman.

“Si, he’s moving north on foot, I caught him on a traffic cam.”

“Al, head east, you guys can cut him off if you make it in time.”

Lydia had completely dismissed them from her mind even though everyone was still staring at her. Her eyebrows furrowed and her teeth clenched and she cursed a bloody storm.

She looked directly at Magnus and shouted, “Get down.” She then jumped over the counter and kicked Simons coffee table onto its side and grabbed the duffle bag whilst pushing them all away from the windows. There was a hail of gunfire and the windows shattered. Lydia landed painfully on top of Jace and rolled onto her feet speaking harshly into her earpiece, “It was a diversion. Verlac is here. He was targeting the family. I need back up.”

Lydia returned fire and cursed, Verlac found some thugs to help cover him and she had a room full of civilians or at least she did until Alec kicked down the door and provided cover fire and then proceeded to tackle Verlac. The bastard had used to the fire escape to make his way inside the apartment while his thugs for hire provided a distraction.

Simon and Lydia took down the thugs quickly but neither of them could get a clear shot of Verlac at least not without hitting Alec. Verlac managed to put some distance between them by kicking Alec in the ribs so Lydia went in with her knife. Verlac liked to use daggers to fight when something caught Lydia’s eye and so she allowed Verlac to impale her while she used the opportunity to rip the necklace from his neck and stab him in the stomach. Lydia fell and Verlac hit his knees while Alec roared in rage as Simon reached for Lydia. Alec locked eyes with Verlac and spoke, “This moment isn’t about justice its about Lydia Branwell’s revenge.” Alec shot Verlac in the head right between the eyes.

He didn’t look at anyone in the room just held Lydia’s hand and spoke to her softly.

“You do have a flare for drama Al.” she whispered and Alec smiled, “Bury me next to John, we couldn’t be together in this life but in death.”

Alec just wiped away her tears, “I promise Lydia.”

She looked at Magnus and smiled at him, “Tell him the truth Al. Live happily ever after like the movies.”

Alec just laughed and Simon held her other hand, “Take my ring Simon. Give it to the person that owns your heart the way John owned mine, may your trip down the aisle be more successful than mine.”

Simon just cried unable to form words but nodded nonetheless. Lydia’s hand went slack in theirs and she did not move again.

Alec picked up his phone and dialed something, “This is agent Lightwood. I have an agent down, I repeat Agent Branwell has fallen. I also got Verlac.” 

Alec and Simon disappeared for a few days and then they were invited to attend the funeral of Lydia Branwell. Simon and Alec were both there in full uniform. They were both stoic. It turned out Lydia managed to get the last bit of information that Verlac had. He had worn it on a memory stick around his neck.

Simon and Alec went home for the first time in years and he told them the full story how they had gotten caught up with a terrorist organization who wanted to kill them, how John died just for loving Lydia and how they chased him down for months. Magnus and Alec spoke privately afterwards.

“I’m sorry Magnus.”

Magnus was just staring at Alec, “Lydia told me it was a bad idea and I swear I never cheated. We were more like siblings than anything but I was just so scared. When we knew that Verlac frequented New York I was terrified for you and you were such a public figure. All it took was one photograph of us together and he would have killed you like he did to John and I couldn’t live with myself if that had happened. I needed you to hate me, push me away, want to forget me but I never stopped loving you.”

Magnus just looked at Alec helplessly, “I feel like I don’t even know who you are anymore.”

Alec shoulders slumped and he knew that Magnus was right, so many things had changed in all that time apart but what hadn’t changed was loving Magnus was as easy and as natural as breathing. Alec didn’t want to let that go.

“I’m still me Magnus just a little more scarred and broken than before.” It was the only reply he could come up with and for a moment it seemed like it wouldn’t be enough.

Magnus looked at the beautiful blue eyed man standing in front of him, strong and dependable but still so vulnerable. It was hard to believe that just a few days ago he had shot a man in the head in front of his eyes but he could also see the shy, easily embarrassed boy who blushed when he kissed him. Magnus could also see traces of the cold man who held hands with Lydia, lied about everything and broke his heart all to protect him. They were both right. Magnus didn’t know him anymore not completely and Alec was right there were still some parts of him that were the same.

“How about we go on a date and start again Alexander?”  
Alec raised an eyebrow which seemed to say ‘huh’ and Magnus smiled, “We can’t just pick up where we left off but maybe we don’t need to do that. Let’s start again because sometimes two people need to fall apart to realize how much they need to fall back together.”

Alec smiled and it wasn’t his boyish smile but a smile full of confidence and it dripped with a promise of sins, “We can do that. I’ll pick you up at seven-tomorrow.”

Alec kissed him once until he lost his breath and forgot his name and by the time Magnus realized that he hadn’t answered him Alec was already gone.

Magnus walked home with a stupid smile on his face excited about his date and the future it could lead too.


End file.
